Dr. Dex Montgomery was all business. And Ty Cooper had to remember that, if he wanted people to believe he was his identical twin brother. But when the rugged rancher met sophisticated Dr. Jessica Stovall, mixing business and pleasure seemed like the perfect plan! Unfortunately he wasn't the man she thought he was.... Jessica usually needed a blowtorch to blast through Dex's icy demeanor. But when his sexy gaze and charming smile suddenly focused on Jessica, she was the one feeling hot and bothered. Getting involved with the sinfully handsome and wealthy doctor would be all wrong -- but why did it feel so right? And why did Dex act as if he had something to hide...?

Renowned author Timothy Schaffert’s celebrated debut novel, reissued here in an entirely new paperback edition, chronicles two sisters on the cusp of womanhood as they struggle to understand their father’s suicide as well their mother’s abandonment of them many years earlier. On graduating from high school, the sisters are once again set adrift, this time by their grandmother who leaves them for Florida. In order to survive, and perhaps even thrive, on their path to adulthood, they must learn to reconcile their pasts and discover how to depend upon themselves as well as on each other.In a story that rises out of the spare Nebraska landscape, Schaffert delivers a redemptive tale about two young women searching for wholeness and love.From Publishers WeeklySchaffert's heartfelt debut features two young misfit sisters left alone to run a junk shop in rural Nebraska. Mabel and Lily Rollow (21 and 18, respectively) have inherited the jumbled store from their grandmother, who left their small town a few months earlier. This latest act of neglect opens the childhood wounds of their father's suicide and their mother's abandonment, the phantom limbs through which they feel very real pain. The sisters draw strength from each other, but are as different as they can be physically and temperamentally; seductive Lily is kittenish and quixotic, while heavyset, bespectacled Mabel is the sensible one. The girls do agree on their mutual object of affection, 19-year-old Jordan, the cheap wine-swilling "cute ruin" who likens his preoccupation with suicide to "having a crush on a mean girl." But he falls for Lily and the lovebirds embark on a road trip to the Southwest to find the girls' mother, leaving Mabel alone to run the shop and exorcise her demons (a process that involves visiting a brain-damaged, former glue-sniffing addict rumored to communicate with the dead). Though the emotional terrain is familiar, and Schaffert occasionally overexplains his characters, the wistful coming-of-age story is solidly crafted and enlivened by quirky, Gothic touches and gentle humor. National publicity; online reading group guide. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalLily and Mabel's father committed suicide, their mother left them with their grandmother, and their grandmother left them for a Florida condo. Closing in on their twenties, they seek to have normal lives but have no model for what normal is. The dusty, cluttered junk shop where they live is a metaphor for their eccentric and confused lives. Lily, the younger of the two, steals a car and heads for Mexico to find Mom. Mabel, abandoned once more, clears out the junk shop by moving everything into the front yard and chooses as a boyfriend someone who understands loss his sister drowned in a pool accident. Schaffert creates funny, bizarre, and yet touching characters who possess depth and breadth. The result is yet another madcap coming-of-age story but one that speaks to the plight of the current generation. Despite suicide, abandonment, poverty, and isolation, it appears that the Rollow girls will always muddle through. Full of surprises, Schaffert's debut is recommended for public libraries. Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The Mammoth Book of Scottish Romance.

July, August, & September. For most residents, The Coach House Trailer Park is the last stop on the road of life. But on a crisp January breeze, a new girl sweeps into the neighborhood, charming them all with her wild nature, her elderberry gifts, and her outrageous laughter. What brings the mysterious Willow Goodhope of Elderberry Croft to this dead end place? From what--or whom--is she hiding?

"There are no vampires in Japan. That is the position of the Emperor. The Emperor is wrong..."In 1899 Geneviève Dieudonné travels to Japan with a group of vampires exiled from Great Britain by Prince Dracula. They are allowed to settle in Yōkai Town, the district of Tokyo set aside for Japan's own vampires, an altogether strange and less human breed than the nosferatu of Europe. Yet it is not the sanctuary they had hoped for, as a vicious murderer sets vampire against vampire, and Yōkai Town is revealed to be more a prison than a refuge. Geneviève and her undead comrades will be forced to face new enemies and the horrors hidden within the Temple of One Thousand Monsters...

Hardened cop Sam O'Neill knew a meddlesome woman when he saw one. He'd saved cocktail waitress Angie Rivers during a bank holdup, but he couldn't get her pretty face or the feel of her silky skin out of his head. She made him lose his focus--she softened his heart--and that put both of them knee-deep in danger, because someone wanted Angie dead.Angie was the only one who could identify the leader of a brutal identity-theft ring. But she was done feeling helpless and vulnerable and was ready to take things into her own hands, despite the tall, dark detective's passionate demands to stay out of trouble--and out of his heart!

In a late night firefight, Det. Jake Roberts kills a shooter in a ski mask firing an AR-15. Jake is wounded. The mask is removed and the shooter is a sixteen-year old girl. Per precinct policy, Jake is required to see the division’s shrink, Dr. Thaddeus Abrams. Leaving Abram’s office abruptly, he passes stunning flight attendant Lori Powers in the outer

The second in the acclaimed Brazilian series featuring Inspector Espinosa, the detective hailed by critics for "his existential sensibility, his exotic beat, and his literary merit" (San Francisco Chronicle)A retired policeman spends a typically alcohol-filled evening with his girlfriend, a prostitute. When he wakes up the next morning, his wallet and car key are missing, his girlfriend has been murdered, and he can remember none of the events of the previous night. Called in to investigate is Inspector Espinosa, veteran detective and friend of the ex-cop. It's a seemingly open-and-shut case, but Espinosa is convinced there's more here than meets the eye, and when other bodies begin turning up, he finds himself not only racing after a killer but falling in love.The first Espinosa mystery, The Silence of the Rain, won over American audiences with its steamy evocation of exotic Rio de Janeiro, its singular narrative approach, and, above...

PROPOSE TO A RYDER?Gabriel Brant was breaking a generations-long feud by proposing to the lovely Ashley Ryder. He offered a deal that would benefit both—he'd get land to expand his cattle ranch and seven-months-pregnant Ashley would get a father for her baby. But he hadn't planned on Ashley's searing kisses shattering the walls around his heart!MARRY A BRANT?Ashley might have fantasized about Gabe when she was a girl, but she didn't trust the ambitious cowboy to keep his word once he grabbed the Ryder land. The way Gabe made her pulse race and her knees weak didn't mean a thing. Except that she found herself wishing their paper marriage would catch fire....

Celebrated Ecuadorian author Gabriela Alemán's first work to appear in English: a noir, feminist eco-thriller in which venally corrupt politicians and greedy land speculators finally get their just comeuppance! "Poso Wells is ironic, audacious, and fierce. But what is it, exactly? A satire? A scifi novel? A political detective yarn? Or the purest reality of contemporary Latin America. It's unclassifiable—as all great books are."—Samanta Schweblin, author of Fever Dream "Poso Wells is brilliant, audacious, doubtlessly playful and at the same time so dark and bitter. A truly unforgettable book."—Alejandro Zambra, author of Multiple Choice "The story is a condemnation not only of the corrupt businessmen and the criminal gangs that rule Poso Wells but also of the violence against women that plagues Latin America's real slums."—The New Yorker "One part...

An irresistible blend of history, suspense and romance captures the extraordinary drama of the Salem witch trials. Set in one of the most horrific yet intriguing periods in history, "Susannah Morrow" offers fascinating psychological insight into the sexual repression that spawned the witch hunts.From Publishers WeeklyThe infamous Salem witch trials are staged once again in thishistorically accurate yet oddly flat novel. Three characters narratethe tale: 15-year-old Charity Fowler; her father, Lucas; and hermaternal aunt, Susannah Morrow. The novel opens in 1691 as Charity,devastated and increasingly uncertain, struggles to cope with both theloss of her mother in childbirth and the abrupt departure of her firstlove. The easily led teenager seeks solace in a group of manipulativegirls, who insinuate that evil is lurking in their insular,superstitious little town. As Charity loses her grasp on reason,Lucas, a God-fearing man who has tended his family the best he can butis hobbled by his piety, takes the reins of the narrative. Tormentedby his sexual longings and uneasy about his stern treatment of hisdaughters, he commits grievous errors in judgment. The hysteria overthe alleged presence of witches in the village-as documented by thecrazed "fits" of young girls-has paralyzed the community whenSusannah's voice takes over. Her London background and her strength,sensuality and courage inevitably make her a victim of the madness,but her lucid narration carries the reader through the horror ofescalating accusations and unmerited punishment. Chance's clear-eyednarrative doesn't slide into sensationalism, but with the exception ofthe intriguing and well-drawn title character, it adds little to thewell-known story.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalTold from the perspective of a victim, her accuser, and the accuser's father, this tale of the Salem witch trials is gripping from its very opening pages. Sixteen-year-old Charity Fowler's mother has just died, and her beautiful Aunt Susannah arrives from England on the same day. Lucas Fowler, Charity's father, is a deeply religious but emotionally distant Puritan who has repressed his own love for his daughter since her birth to focus instead on saving her soul. Charity thus turns to a group of teenage girls in Salem for acceptance. When Aunt Susannah interrupts the girls' visit to a local tavern, she becomes the target of a vicious and tragic sequence of events that eventually lead to her imprisonment as a witch. Most of the supporting characters in this novel are actual historical figures who were involved in the Salem witch trials. Romance writer Chance (The Way Home) has brought believability and immediacy to this dark chapter in American history with a story that can be recommended to a wide spectrum of readers and book discussion groups. Every public library will want to own this.Kim Rutter, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

AN IRRESISTIBLE PROPOSALAllie Dickenson couldn't believe she was marrying her brooding boss, Lucas Taylor, the man she'd been fantasizing about for the past year. But when he proposed a temporary union in exchange for helping her with her ailing father, she couldn't say no....A FAMILY TO CALL HIS OWNLucas desperately wanted a child, and marrying his loyal secretary would get his foot in the adoption agency's door. Although the jaded millionaire swore no woman could melt his steely defenses, he found himself powerfully drawn to his beautiful bride--and their sizzling night of passion resulted in a baby on the way! Could Lucas finally overcome his tormented past...or did he risk losing the love he'd always longed for?